


Tag

by Metal_Chocobo



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack, Gen, Laser Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6390760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Chocobo/pseuds/Metal_Chocobo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sephiroth was not pleased. Usually that meant heads rolled, nations burned, and the world was brought to its knees. Today it meant he had to baby-sit his fifteen-year-old brother of all people.*</p>
<p>*It also meant playing laser tag.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tag

Sephiroth was not pleased. Usually that meant heads rolled, nations burned, and the world was brought to its knees. Today it meant he had to baby-sit. That in and of itself was a disaster, but it wasn’t just anyone that Sephiroth had to baby-sit. He had to baby-sit his _fifteen-year-old brother_ , who by all rights ought to be old enough to look after himself.

It had started out as a decent day—Sephiroth never had good days—until he reached the breakfast table. Instead of his mother seated at the head of the table drinking coffee and mulling over the paper, he found two notes, one addressed to him and the other to Riku. That wasn’t unusual; Mother often spent her weekends on business trips.

Sephiroth sat down in his own seat across from his mother’s chair. He had planned on drinking his coffee, eating a Danish, and finalize his plan to bind Cloud Strife to him for good. Cloud insisted that a life of servitude was not for him, but Sephiroth knew better. After he had adequate time to break the blonde’s spirit, Cloud would happily yield to his dominance. Now that spring break had started it was the optimal time to put Sephiroth’s plan in action. No one would miss Cloud if he disappeared for a few days.

He picked up the note to see what Mother wanted. Then promptly spit out his coffee all over the table. She expected him to baby sit—her exact words—“baby-sit” his fifteen-year-old brother for the duration of her trip. The only time Riku was not to be under his care was when another legal adult whose authority Riku respected was watching him.

Sephiroth ground his teeth in annoyance. The reason why he was stuck watching Riku was that his brother was an idiot. On his own, Riku was intelligent enough, but when coupled with the Annoyance, his IQ plummeted into the negative digits. Riku couldn’t say ‘no’ to the Annoyance. That was how the Jenova family’s home nearly went up in flames when a cooking experiment went awry. Riku also only minded a few adults, which meant Sephiroth had to watch him the entire time. Capturing Cloud would have to wait.

Adding insult to injury, the note also specified that Riku couldn’t simply be locked in his room the entire time. In fact, Mother had promised Riku months ago that he could play laser tag with the Annoyance this weekend. 

This was how Sephiroth ended up in an arcade. He didn’t want to be there; arcades were full of maddening beeps and shrieks emitted from the tacky tasteless games and the small goblins operating them. Mix the noise pollution with the almost rancid foods dripping grease that were regularly regurgitated and it was a sensory overload nightmare. Everything was sticky, which made touching things a challenge. 

This included the small hoard swarming around his waist. Every time one of them bumped into him, which was a regular occurrence, Sephiroth twitched and he wondered how much unnecessary legal drama would result if he rend one limb from limb. When a larger one than the typical munchkin smacked into him, Sephiroth couldn’t help in and grabbed him by the arm. It was the Annoyance. Despite his wrathful gaze the boy just grinned up at him and waved. A woman in pink pulled the Annoyance back and smiled politely at Sephiroth.

“Sora,” she admonished, “you know better, apologize.”

“Sorry, Aerith,” the Annoyance mumbled before turning to Sephiroth. “I’m really sorry for bumping into you, Sephiroth.” He cheekily grinned through the entire apology, not looking the slightest repentant. His smile showed more gum than was natural. Riku wrapped an arm around the Annoyance, as if he could protect him from his brother. Sephiroth didn’t spare the Annoyance another glance.

“Are you in charge of him?” Sephiroth asked, looking down at her. She seemed unfazed by his aura of menace.

“I’m keeping an eye on Sora, yes,” she answered, continuing to smile. “How are you today, Sephiroth?”

Sephiroth ignored her question. Both boys seemed to listen to the girl... “How old are you?” he asked, trying to smile, but it looked more like a snarl. He had never been good at being pleasant when he didn’t really mean it.

“Seventeen,” she answered. “Why?”

“Damn.” She wasn’t a legal adult; therefore, according to Mother’s instructions, he couldn’t release Riku into her care.

Sephiroth felt something tug at the hem of his trousers. When he looked down, he saw a chocolate smeared little boy. “You said a bad word,” the boy accused. One glare sent the boy screaming for his mother. Decades later, after the boy had grown into a man, he was terribly embarrassed by the fact that the sight of his nice, male, long-haired, beanpole of a neighbor sent him into hysterics.

“That wasn’t very nice,” the pink girl rebuked.

“Bite me,” Sephiroth drawled.

“Maybe later,” she smiled. “For now I think we need to decide on our teams.”

“I’m with Sora,” Riku said as the Annoyance proclaimed that he was with Riku.

“I work alone,” Sephiroth supplied.

“Can’t do that, everyone needs a partner; it’s in the rules,” the Annoyance sang condescendingly. He grinned mischievously. “So that means you’re with Aerith.”

“I work alone,” Sephiroth repeated. This was not negotiable. 

“The Great Sephiroth, afraid of working with a girl?” Riku asked, smirking as he crossed his arms.

“Male or female, it doesn’t matter,” Sephiroth snorted. “Both are equally incompetent. I don’t take partners.”

Riku was silent for a moment. The he grinned widely. “Tell you what,” he began, “If you take the cannon fodder, keep both of you from being hit once, and deal the death blows to Sora and myself… I’ll head back to Sora’s place and behave, which lets you go off to do whatever. Deal?”

A chance to get rid of Riku, hunt Cloud, and not break mother’s instructions… all for winning a silly contest? Sephiroth consider that to be a deal worth taking. “Well, if you insist,” Sephiroth conceded, inwardly smirking. The brothers shook hands to seal the deal.

“Riku?” the Annoyance started as they suited up, “what did you give Sephiroth permission to do to my uncle? Riku?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sora. Cloud will survive,” Riku promised before quietly adding as they entered the playing field, “I hope.”

This was Sephiroth’s element. With a laser gun in hand, he was on the hunt ready to destroy the opposition. He could easily track down the Annoyance and Riku, sniping out the competition until they were the only ones left. Then he would kill Riku first so that he couldn’t sacrifice the Annoyance to take out Sephiroth. He would not be deprived of Cloud time. The only problem was keeping this girl safe. 

“What are you planning on doing to my uncle?” she asked as Sephiroth pulled her to safety. 

“I plan on binding him to a chair and press my advantage until he’s begging for my caresses,” Sephiroth answered. He shot at four children, killing one with a direct hit to its target.

“He wouldn’t like that,” she said scratching her head with her gun. “You are not tying him up.”

“It doesn’t matter what he likes,” Sephiroth snapped, snatching the gun away. He didn’t want the silly girl shooting herself thereby voiding the bet. Sephiroth killed another child before returning the laser gun. “This is a weapon, not a toy.”

“You mean this is a toy, not a weapon, Sephiroth,” she smirked.

Sephiroth grunted and continued his hunt. He shot several more children as he searched for Riku and the Annoyance. The girl trailed behind him like a ghost.

“You know, if you don’t respect him, Cloud won’t respect you. He’s a human being with thoughts and dreams of his own,” she said. “If you ignore what makes him _him_ , Cloud will leave the first chance he gets.”

“Cloud wouldn’t leave,” Sephiroth said with certainty. “He’d be too scared of what I would do to him when I caught him again.”

“Which is why he’d turn to friends and family, people that he trusts, for help. If needed, I would protect him.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you love him?” she asked. When he didn’t respond right away, she pressed further. “Sephiroth?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

That question stopped him. He stood quietly for a minute before slowly turning back to the girl. He looked at her, really looked at her. Hands on her hips, she evenly met his gaze. Sure, she wore pink and seemed to be in a continuous dream… but for the first time, Sephiroth, realized he had underestimated someone. The girl was more predator than prey. More importantly, she was focused on him and Sephiroth had a feeling that if his answer left her unhappy he’d regret it.

“I don’t know,” he replied at last. “I can’t explain why. I don’t care about him the way society dictates I ought to, but… Cloud… he makes me feel complete.”

It was only then that Sephiroth realized that she had her gun pointed at him. As she squeezed the trigger, Sephiroth dived down for cover. It was too late. She had gotten one off, then another. He would be stuck with Riku for a week and lose his best chance with Cloud, all because Sephiroth had allowed overconfidence to blind him.

“You can get up now, Sephiroth,” she said, offering him her hand. “We won.”

Sephiroth looked past her to see Riku and the Annoyance sitting on the ground in shock. Their amour flashed to show they had been taken out. She had shot them. Sephiroth accepted the offered hand. Unexpectedly, she pulled him to his feet in one smooth motion.

“Talk to him, Sephiroth, without the restraints,” she ordered. “Cloud hates to admit it, but he’s always open to a philosophical debate. If you can find common ground you might have a chance, but if it’s forced, all you’ll accomplish is failure.”

Sephiroth’s jaw dropped slightly. She was just like his mother. If Sephiroth hadn’t settled on Cloud, she would have made a suitable mate. “Who are you?” he croaked, surprised at the waver in his voice. 

“Aerith,” Aerith smiled. “Now shoo, go find Cloud. Don’t worry; I’ll take care of the boys. I’ve done it lots of times.”

Sephiroth numbly stripped off his armor and handed it to Aerith. 

“Be careful with him,” Aerith added. “I want my uncle in one piece when school starts again.”

When he realized what she was giving him permission to do, a smirk slowly spread across his face. He nodded. It wasn’t what he had initially intended, but he could work within the set limitations, especially if there was a better chance of achieving his goals. If he couldn’t bend someone to his will with simply his words he wasn’t worthy of being called a Jenova. With a small wave to Riku, Aerith, and the Annoyance, Sephiroth left to find Cloud, to woo Cloud, and to make Cloud his.

**Author's Note:**

> This was old fic that I finally got around to cross-posting here. Made some recent revisions, but it's still an old story.


End file.
